Introduction
The Statesville Fire Department has long been committed to the well-being of its team members and the community they serve.
In their continuous pursuit of excellence, they adopted the Essential Personnel (EP) software to enhance their processes, particularly in tracking critical incidents. This change has not only streamlined their operations but also earned recognition as an industry best practice.
The Challenge
Before implementing EP, the Statesville Fire Department had no formal mechanism for tracking critical incidents. Deputy Fire Chief Kyle Bell explains, "We relied heavily on our robust peer support network, with incident details shared through word of mouth. We knew we needed the right technology to document occurrences, track progression, or ensure follow-up."
The department is always striving for continuous improvement through self-assessment. They set out with an initial goal of identifying a software that could transform their approach to talent management and enhance their annual employee evaluation process – features that EP is well known for. However, upon discovering the software’s full capabilities, Statesville realized EP’s Safety & Wellness module had the potential to revolutionize their critical incident tracking process as well. They aimed to set early warning thresholds to provide better support for their team, addressing a broader range of needs than initially anticipated.
Statesville chose EP due to its comprehensive functionality that is tailor-made to meet some of the challenges within the public sector.
Using Essential Personnel at Statesville Fire Department
Implementing EP was straightforward. The software’s fully customizable templates are built with public safety in mind. “This made it a turn-key process for our people to start tracking incidents,” notes Bell. Other features like threshold alert settings allowed the department to identify patterns and take timely action. For example, the department responded to two pediatric fatalities within weeks. They were able to quickly identify that the same crew members were involved in both incidents. “It changes how the department and our peer support network responds, knowing that you have a cascading event like that,” Bell shared. Such insights were previously unattainable without EP.
Bell stated “Having timely notifications and insights at our fingertips is one of the most significant benefits of EP. Using threshold alerts, it enables the department to keep the health and wellbeing of our team as one of our top priorities. We can now think about when a series of events warrants a new response or action, like involving professional experts." This depth of analysis has led to contracting with clinicians for additional support, providing supervisors with valuable tools to help their teams.
In addition, individual wellness profiles within EP show Health and Safety Administrators a more complete picture of each team member. Bell also went on to share that “Supervisors also now have better insights into how involvement in multiple incidents, exposures and accidents may impact job performance or require remedial training. EP provides the tools, data and insight that helps us tie it all together.”
Key Features:
- Threshold Alerts: Identify patterns, monitor multiple exposures and adjust responses.
- Data & Insights: Create benchmarks for your early-warning actions
- Individual Wellness Profiles: Provide a complete picture of each team member
Positive Impacts
Data to Inform Action
Experiences that provoke profound stress, such as mass casualties and pediatric fatalities are what often get identified as “critical” incidents. But what if an incident or exposure was critical to a particular member of the team? EP enables a single team member to document an incident as critical, and builds a comprehensive wellness profile for every employee. At a glance, leaders get a sense of the health and well-being of each individual team member as well as seeing agency-wide stats. Bell shared “There’s no hard data point or playbook for this stuff. Capturing this data in EP over time is a great step toward being able to set appropriate benchmarks and gain even more insight for early-warnings in the future.”
Enhanced Peer Support
It also helps identify the best person to reach out to affected individuals, leveraging previous experiences to provide tailored support. For instance, an individual who has experienced a mass casualty or pediatric fatality would be the ideal contact for someone who had recently been exposed to a similar incident. This personalized approach has strengthened the department's peer support system. "We now have a mechanism to deliver exceptional service to our people," emphasizes Bell.
Industry Recognition
Statesville Fire Department's innovative use of EP was acknowledged during their reaccreditation process by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) and the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE). Their critical incident tracking process using EP was outlined within the accreditation report and cited by the commission as an industry best practice during the hearing. This accolade underscores the department's leadership in fire and service innovation, and the incredible commitment of their peer support network.
Conclusion
The Statesville Fire Department's adoption of EP has transformed their critical incident tracking, providing invaluable benefits to their team and earning industry recognition. "EP is such a simple, easy-to-use system that offers immense value to our service and people," concludes Deputy Fire Chief Bell.
